Civil Partnerships and Same Sex-Marriages

Connie Kopelov, 84, and Phyllis Siegel, 76, hold up their marriage certificate. They are Manhattan's first legally married gay couple.

Flicking through my blogs I realised that despite discussing same-sex marriages and civil partnerships I still wasn’t 100% sure on the official difference. So I began researching this and was surprised to discover that civil partnerships offer “the same legal rights as a married couple” but unsurprised to find out that the differences that do exist are “due to protests from religious groups about recognising same-sex couples...the same way.” Once again, I became disheartened that religion has such a massive impact over homosexual rights in the 21^st Century.

Following on from this I decided to research which countries have legalised gay marriage, these are:

- The Netherlands

(2001)

- Belgium

(2003)

- Spain

(2005)

- Canada

(2005)

- South Africa

(2006)

- Norway

(2009)

- Sweden

(2009)

- Portugal

(2010)

- Iceland

(2010)

- Argentina

(2010)

Who do you think will legalise gay marriage next? In one of my previous blogs I discussed how Obamabut ultimately the state itself must make the final decision. 9 American states have already legalised gay marriage (some before Obama’s announcement), these are:
        -          Connecticut
-     Iowa
-     Massachusetts
-     New Hampshire
-     Vermont
-     New York
-     Maine
-     Maryland
-     Washington

In my opinion 9 out of 50 states is a pretty good start and provides great hope that other states will follow, especially now their religious President has put forward his support. Or maybe Britain may be the next place to legalise gay marriage as this exciting clip of David Cameron hints;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCLF2ji0rZI

Do you think the legalising of gay marriage has been a positive thing so far? Would you like gay marriage to become legal where you live? What do you think the impact of this would be?

Newly-wed Canadian couple enjoy time together after the ceremony.